!ERTY   AND    EQUALITY    FOf 


Our  Republic— Liberty  an. 


.    rwoi,DED  on   Law. 


OEATION 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


tig  imtittH  m&  ii%ns  nf  Jnslan, 

IN     THE     BOSTON     THEATRE, 


ONE   HUNDRED  AND   FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE   DECLARATION 
OF  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE, 


JULY    4,    1881. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WARREN 


^  J!  o  s  i  o  n  : 

PRINTED     BY     ORDER     OF     THE     CITY     COUNCIL 

MDCCCLXXXI. 


^ 


JXDEPEXVEXCE    OF    THE    U.S.    CYI. 


Our  Republic  — Liberty  and  Equality  founded  on  Law. 


ORATION 


DELIVERED    BEFORE    THE 


IN     THE     BOSTON     THEATRE, 


ONE   HUNDRED   AND   FIFTH  ANNIVERSARY   OF   THE  DECLARATION 
OF  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE, 


JULY    4,    18  81 


BY 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON  WARREN 


|  o  s  t  o  n  : 

PRINTED     BY     ORDER     OF     THE     CITY     COUNCIL, 

MDCCCLXXXI. 

INDEPENDENCE    OF   THE    U.S.    VVI. 


*ROCKWELL&| 


CHURCHILL* 


11337 


CITY    OF    BOSTON 


In  Board  of  Aldermen,  July  5,  1881. 
Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  City  Council  be  presented 
to  the  Hon.  G.  Washington  Warren,  for  the  very 
interesting  Oration  delivered  by  him  before  the  Municipal 
authorities  of  Boston  on  the  One  Hundred  and  Fifth 
Anniversary  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence, 
and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  for  publication. 

Passed.     Sent  down  for  concurrence. 

HUGH  O'BRIEN, 

Chairman. 

In  Common  Council,  July  7,  1881. 
Concurred. 

ANDREW  J.  BAILEY, 

President. 

Approved  July  8,  1881. 

FREDERICK  O.  PRINCE, 

Mayor. 


E  EPL  Y. 

To    His    Honor    Frederick   O.    Prince,    Mayor,    and    the 
Gentlemen   of  the    City   Council  of  Boston  :  — 

In  response  to  your  courteous  Resolution,  I  respectfully 
forward  for  your  disposal  a  copy  of  my  Oration,  which  was 
fully  prepared  during  the  latter  part  of  last  month ;  the  few 
changes  occasioned  by  the  horrid  attempt,  on  the  2d  inst.,  to 
murder  the  President  of  the  United  States,  being  marked 
to  be  printed  in  Italics. 

I  only  wish  that  the  treatment  of  my  theme  had  been 
more  powerful,  and  the  moral  of  the  history  and  basis  of 
our  Republic  more  distinctly  set  forth ;  for  among  other 
lessons  this  can  be  drawn,  that  assassination  and  mob-rule 
can  nowhere  be  the  successful  means  of  obtaining  Liberty, 
which,  indeed,  can  only  be  secured  by  a  system  of  measures 
not  repugnant  to  the  Divine  Law.  May  our  beloved  country 
ever  continue  to  be  an  illustrious  example  of  this  principle. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  gentlemen, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

G.  WASHINGTON  WARREN. 

Boston,  July  11,  1881. 


ORDER    OF    EXERCISES 


AT      THE 


BOSTON     THEATRE, 

JULY    4,    1881. 

HIS   HONOR   MAYOR  PRINCE,  Presiding. 

1.  OVERTURE.      Morning,  Noon  and  Night       ....       Suppe 

Boston  Cadet  Band,  J.  Thomas  Baldwin,  Conductor. 

2.  PRAYER. 

By  Rev.  Charles  Follen  Lee. 

3.  MUSIC.      To  Thee,  0  Country EicUerg 

4.  READING  OE  THE  DECLARATION  OE  INDEPENDENCE. 

By  Master  George  Read  Nutter. 

5.  ODE. 

Sung  by  the  Quartette  oe  the  First  Church  in  Boston.* 

6.  ORATION. 

By  George  Washington  Warren. 

7.  BENEDICTION. 

8.  MUSIC Audran 


*Miss  Annie  Louise  Gage,  soprano;  Mrs.  Jennie  M.  Noyes,  contralto;  Mr.  W.  H. 
Fessenden,  tenor;  Mr.  Clarence  E.  Hay,  bass.  The  music  composed  by  the  late  Elisha  T. 
Coolidse,  and  arranged  for  the  quartette  by  Mr.  Arthur  Foote. 


The  civic  exercises  in  observance  of  the  Fourth  of  July 
took  place  in  the  Boston  Theatre  at  10  o'clock. 

After  an  overture  by  the  Boston  Cadet  Band,  Rev. 
Charles  Follen  Lee,  pastor  of  the  First  Universalis! 
Church,  Charlestown  District,  offered  prayer  as  follows  :  — 


PRAYER. 

Almighty  God,  our  heavenly  Father,  we  look  np 
to  Thee  as  the  source  whence  all  onr  blessings  flow, 
and  praise  Thee  for  Thy  wonderful  works  unto  the 
children  of  men.  We  believe  that  Thou  reignest  in 
heaven  and  on  earth,  and  that  our  times  are  in  Thy 
hand.  Full  of  gratitude,  then,  for  Thy  loving  favor, 
we  rejoice  in  Thy  mercies  to  us  and  to  all  men,  al- 
though our  hearts  are  heavy  with  a  great  national 
sorrow,  and  thank  Thee  for  the  numberless  blessings 
which  Thou  hast  showered  upon  us.  We  praise 
Thee  that  Thou  hast  endowed  us  with  rational  souls, 
and  vouchsafed  unto  us  the  high  privilege  of  calling 


8  EXERCISES. 

ourselves  Thy  children.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
religion  of  Jesus  Christ  and  for  the  comfort  which  it 
gives  us  in  days  of  trouble  and  sorrow.  We  thank 
Thee  for  our  beloved  country  and  the  various  institu- 
tions which  make  it  so  dear  to  our  hearts.  We 
glorify  Thy  name,  that  Thou  didst  guide  our  fathers 
over  the  sea  and  establish  them  on  these  shores ;  that 
Thou  wast  with  them  in  the  time  of  peril  and  need, 
and  madest  them  to  prevail  in  their  struggle  to  be 
free,  and  that  during  all  these  years  since  our  nation 
was  founded  Thou  hast  watched  over  and  blessed 
this  land,  making  it  so  prosperous  and  great. 

But,  O  God,  we  are  sensible  of  our  ignorance  and 
weakness;  we  can  do  nothing  without  Thee;  and 
therefore,  confessing  our  sins  both  private  and  public, 
and  asking  Thy  forgiveness,  we  beseech  Thee  for  the 
continuance  of  Thy  favor.  O  God,  be  pleased  to 
hear  the  prayers  of  Thy  people  as  they  pray  for  the 
life  of  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  this  nation.  Spare 
him  in  his  extremity,  that  he  may  still  rule  over  us. 
Comfort  Thou  his  family  —  his  aged  mother,  his  de- 
voted wife,  and  his  sorrowful  children.  Grant  that 
their  strength  may  be  sufficient  unto  the  hour  of  their 
trial.  And  if  Thou  takest  him  away  in  the  flower  of 
his  manhood  and  the  fulness  of  his  fame,  may  we  be 
able  to  bow  in  submission,  and  say,  Thy  will  be 
done.  Bless  Thou  the  people  of  these  United  States. 
May  ours  ever  be  a  free  country,  a  Christian  country, 
—  one  whose  God  is  the  Lord.  Soften,  we  pray  Thee, 
the  asperities  of  sectional  and  party  strife.  May 
there  be  no  North,  no  South,  no  East,  and  no  West, 


JULY    4,     1881.  9 

but  may  the  land  be  united  in  fraternity  and  love. 
May  we  remember  that  Thou  hast  made  us  bone  of 
one  bone,  and  flesh  of  one  flesh,  and  that  what  Thou 
hast  joined  tog-ether  man  should  not  put  asunder. 
Save  us,  good  Lord,  from  war,  violence,  privy  con- 
spiracy, sedition,  and  pestilence,  and  may  the  years  to 
come  be  more  glorious  and  peaceful  than  those  which 
are  past.  May  Thy  favor  be  with  the  Governor  of 
this  Commonwealth,  with  the  Mayor  of  this  city,  and 
with  all  who  are  placed  over  us  in  authority.  May 
they  discharge  their  duties  in  all  fidelity.  Bless  him 
who  is  to  speak  to  us,  and  endue  him  with  grace  from 
on  high.  Bless  the  whole  world,  and  hasten  the  time 
when  all  men  shall  enjoy  the  blessings  of  peace  and 
freedom.  Imploring  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  be  with  us 
throughout  this  day,  which  may  have  so  much  sorrow 
for  us  and  for  our  country,  we  ascribe  to  Thee  all 
might  and  glory  in  the  name  of  the  great  Liberator 
of  the  ages.     Amen. 


The  Declaration  of  Independence  was  then  read  by  Master 
George  Kead  Nutter,  of  the  graduating  class  of  the  Bos- 
ton Latin  School. 

His  Honor  the  Mayor  then  said :  "  The  quartette  from 
the  First  Church  will  now  sing  an  Ode,  composed  by  the 
distinguished  orator  of  the  day,  and  sung  fifty  years  ago,  on 
the  celebration  of  the  Anniversary  of  American  Indepen- 
dence, July  4th,   1831,  at  New  Bedford." 


1()  E  XERCISES 


ODE. 

Survey  the  wide-spread  .land, 
And  tell  us  where  on  earth 
There  may  be  found  a  better  band, 

Of  more  ennobling  birth, 
Than  they  who  breathe  this  liberal  air, 
And  all  its  blessed  influence  share. 

We  pass  the  joyous  days 
In  liberty  and  love ; 
As  free-born  men,  we  lead  our  ways 

Stern  slavery  above : 
Each  can  enjoy  his  lawful  own, 
His  private  thoughts,  his  social  home. 

No  royal  hand  points  out 
The  way  that  we  shall  go  ; 
Oppression  here  builds  no  redoubt, 

In  guise  of  friend  or  foe  : 
But  Freedom's  soul,  and  Freedom's  might, 
Commands  our  land,  —  upholds  our  right. 

'  Tis  Liberty's  own  soil ; 

Our  fathers  made  it  free 
From  savage  waste,  from  foreign  spoil, 

A  patriot  land  to  be  ; 
They  hither  fled  in  peace  to  live, 
Here  fought  their  sons  that  boon  to  give. 

In  stubborn  strife  'gainst  wrong, 
Our  blessings  they  secured ; 
Through  troubled  times,  through  labors  long, 

They  faithfully  endured, 
Ere  they  could  firmly  fix  their  stand, 
And  form  a  fair,  unfettered  band. 

Praise  be  their  well-earned  meed, 
The  praise  of  free-born  souls ; 

As  long  as  fame  of  lofty  deed 

Down  years  unnumbered  rolls, 

America !  for  thee  is  won 

Glory  by  many  a  noble  son. 


JULY     4,     1881.  11 

For  those  who  struggle  now, 

Far,  far  beyond  the  sea, 
God  of  our  land !  to  Thee  we  bow, 

Oh !  grant  them  victory ; 
Give  them  the  spirit  of  our  sires, 
To  strive  for  right  till  life  expires. 


When  the  Ode  was  sung,  the  Orator  of  the  day,  Hon. 
George  Washington  Warren,  was  introduced  by  His 
Honor  the  Mayor,  with  a  preface,  in  the  following  words  :  — 

Fellow  Citizens,  —  This  Anniversary  of  Ameri- 
can Independence,  —  this  national  holiday,  —  which 
should  be  an  occasion  of  national  joy  and  exultation, 
has  become  one  of  national  sorrow  and  grief.  All 
our  millions  of  every  section  —  north,  south,  east, 
west  —  are  alike  anxious  and  distressed,  for  any 
moment  may  bring  the  news  of  the  death  of  our  Presi- 
dent, who,  as  you  all  know,  has  been  struck  down  by 
a  wretch  whom,  for  the  enormity  of  his  unprovoked 
and  wanton  crime,  we  might  almost  call  a  demon.  He 
has  not  only  assailed  the  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
country;  but,  through  him,  the  whole  American  peo- 
ple, for  the  President,  after  an  election,  no  longer 
represents  a  party,  but  becomes  the  exponent  and 
executive  of  the  whole  nation. 

Our  sympathies  for  the  distinguished  sufferer  are 
too  tender  and  deep  for  indulgence  in  those  festivities 
which  have  hitherto  marked  the  observance  of  the 
day.  They  induce  humiliation-  and  prayer ;  they  incite 
us  to  invoke  the  Divine  intercession  that  the  life  of 
our  President  may  be  spared  to  us,  and,  that  in  some 


12  EXERCISES, 

way,  good  may  come  to  this  afflicted  people  out  of 
this  terrible  evil. 

As  I  know  how  anxiously  you  watch  for  the  latest 
news  from  Washington,  I  have  arranged  that  any 
bulletins  which  may  come  during  the  exercises  shall 
be  brought  here,  and  I  will  announce  them  as  they 
are  received.      [Immense  applause.] 


Note.  —  Soon  after  the  delivery  of  the  Oration  was  begun,  it  was  inter- 
rupted to  permit  the  Mayor  to  read  the  gratifying  despatch,  to  the  effect,  that 
the  President's  symptoms  were  declared  to  be  more  favorable,  and  that  one 
of  the  attending  physicians  who  before  had  been  doubtful  of  the  result,  now 
expressed  confidence  in  his  ultimate  recovery.  This  announcement  was 
received  by  the  large  audience  with  loud  and  prolonged  cheering;  after 
which  the  oration  was  listened  to  with  close  attention. 


ORATION. 


It  is,  indeed,  Mr.  Mayor,  a  high  honor  to  stand 
in  the  line  of  the  orators  of  Boston,  and  voice 
the  common  sentiment  which  this  occasion  in- 
spires. The  United  States  of  America  rejoices 
in  her  One  Hundred  and  Fifth  Anniversary, 
worthy  to  be  commemorated  by  all  her  people 
throughout  her  extended  domain.  As  when  in  the 
time  of  some  great  national  crisis  the  assembled 
multitude  await  anxiously  the  result,  and  the  good 
news  comes  at  last,  a  spontaneous  shout  is  raised, 
and  all  join  hands,  strangers,  friends,  the  es- 
tranged, alike;  so  on  this  return  of  Independence 
day,  all  political  and  personal  animosities  subside 
in  the  general  joy  which  fills  the  air  we  breathe. 
Even  while  just  now  listening  to  the  long  historic 
list  of  grievances  set  forth  in  the  Immortal  Decla- 
ration, so  eloquently  read  to-day,  —  an  ever-ap- 
propriate part  of  the  celebration,  —  we  feel  no  re- 
sentment towards  the  memory  of  King  George  the 
Third;    for  we  bear  in  mind  his  reception    of  John 


14  'ORATION. 

Adams,  as  our  first  minister-plenipotentiary  to  his 
court,  in  June,  1785.  "I  was  the  last,"  said  the 
king,  in  concluding-  his  reply  to  Mr.  Adams' 
address,  "  to  consent  to  the  separation ;  but  the 
separation  having  been  made,  and  having  become 
inevitable,  I  have  always  said,  as  I  say  now,  that 
I  would  be  the  first  to  meet  the  friendship  of 
the  United  States  as  an  independent  power;"  and 
such,  for  the  most  part,  has  been  the  feeling  of 
his  successors  of  his  own  blood  on  the  British 
throne  to  this  hour.  And  always  in  Queen  Vic- 
toria's cosmopolitan  capital,  —  bear  witness  the 
memory  of  George  Peabody,  —  in  charming  Paris, 
and  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  continental 
Europe,  of  the  great  Orient  also,  as  well  as  of 
the  isles  of  the  sea,  —  wherever  two  or  three 
Americans  are  #  brought  together,  there  is  this  day 
well  remembered,  and  there  to-day  is  a  fervent 
prayer  offered  that  the  life  of  the  President  may  oe 
preserved.  The  boundless  Ocean,  as  yet  unconscious 
of  this  great  shock  on  Earth,  amid  its  incessant  roar, 
hears  now  the  resounding  cannon,  numbering  the 
stars  of  our  great  republic,  as  our  ships  ride  the 
billowy  waves,  streaming  in  their  holiday  attire  and 
playing  the  inspiring  notes  of  our  national  airs. 
]^o  other  country  under  heaven  has  so  stamped  on 
the  world's  calendar   for  the  past  century,    and  for 


JULY    4,     1881.  15 

centuries  to  come,  its  distinctive  clay,  like  our  own 
gladsome  and  glorious  Fourth  of  July. 

Boston,  which  did  so  much  towards  the  making 
of  the  day,  has  been  the  most  constant  of  all  in 
its  patriotic  commemoration.  Beginning  in  1783, 
before  the  treaty  of  peace  with  the  mother-country, 
there  have  been,  including  the  present,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  municipal  authorities,  ninety-nine 
celebrations.  ~No  gap  has  been  made  by  foreign 
war  or  civil  discord,  by  adverse  times  or  party 
feuds;  whatever  clouds  have  flitted  across  the  sky, 
she  has  cast  aside  all  gloom,  and,  robing  herself 
in  the  flag  of  her  country,  she  has  hailed  this 
day  of  jubilee  with  signal  tokens  of  rejoicing. 
On  this  day  she  makes  all  her  children  happy, 
and  in  seeing  their  smiles  and  sports  we  all  are 
young    again. 

Let  us  picture  to  ourselves  the  scene  of  the 
proclamation  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  in 
Boston,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1776.  The  news  of 
the  event  must  have  reached  Boston  several  days 
before;  but  it  took  a  fortnight  in  those  slow- 
moving  times  before  the  full  text  of  the  precious 
document  could  arrive  and  due  notice  of  its  proc- 
lamation be  made.  It  was  not  read  at  the  head 
of  the  army  in  Kew  York  till  the  9th  of  July. 
The    Town   House  —  which  we   now   call   the   Old 


16  ORATION. 

State  House  ■ —  was  not  then  connected  with  the 
web  of  wires  in  the  basement  and  roof,  stretch- 
ing through  the  air  to  such  then  unknown  cities 
as  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  Washington,  and  San  Fran- 
cisco, like  a  harp's  thousand  strings,  whose  play 
now  electrifies  a  continent.  The  Mug's  arms  were 
the  most  conspicuous  thing  on  the  building.  The 
day  appointed  was  Thursday,  immediately  after  the 
Thursday  Lecture  at  the  First  Church,  nearly  op- 
posite, on  the  site  where  is  to  be  the  new  Rogers 
Building.  As  they  came  out  from  the  lecture, 
which  probably  had  some  reference  to  the  great 
event,  whether  it  was  preached  by  Dr.  Chauncy, 
or  one  of  his  brother  ministers,  the  people  took 
position  in  King's  street,  as  it  was  then  called, 
where  two  regiments  and  a  detachment  of  artillery 
were  already  posted  in  lines.  The  people  had 
flocked  in  also  from  the  neighboring  towns.  The 
Council  Chamber  was  crowded  with  the  councillors, 
representatives,  magistrates,  ministers,  and  distin- 
guished citizens.  It  was  just  four  months  and  a  day 
since  the  British  troops  had  evacuated  the  town, 
with  the  American  loyalists,  who  had  not  given 
up  the  hope  to  return  to  their  homes,  under  the 
old  regime  reestablished.  Washington  had  with- 
drawn the  main  part  of  his  army.  Imagine  the 
feelings  of  suspense  and  agitation  with  which  that 


JULY     4,     1881.  17 

assembly  heard  that  Declaration  read  by  Col.  Crafts 
from  the  eastern  balcony,  as  distinctly  and  feel- 
ingly as  we  have  heard  it  read  to-day.  The 
words  were  then  new;  they  were  eagerly  caught 
up  and  sank  deep  to  the  heart  of  the  listening 
crowd:  those  new  and  noble  ideas,  the  equality  of 
birth,  their  right  to  liberty,  self-government,  the 
throwing  off  their  allegiance  upon  justifiable  cause 
fully  set  forth,  and,  more  than  all,  the  solemn 
determination  of  the  United  Colonies,  taking  the 
new  name  of  the  United  States  of  America,  that 
they  would  stand  together  and  henceforth  before 
the  world  be  an  independent  nation,  —  these  made 
them  feel  intensely  the  importance  and  the  glory 
of  the  act  that  had  been  performed.  When  the 
reading  was  finished,  James  Bowdoin,  President 
of  the  Council,  afterwards  Governor,  cries  out: 
"  God  bless  the  American  States !  "  Salvoes  of  thir- 
teen guns  were  fired  from  Fort  Hill,  the  Castle, 
Dorchester  ^Neck,  Nantasket,  and  Point  Allerton, 
and  from  the  shipping  in  the  harbor.  Then  the 
artillery,  and,  lastly,  the  regiments  in  the  street, 
fired  in  separate  detachments  thirteen  volleys,  — 
making  that  number  an  historic  number  to  all 
Americans.  The  king's  arms  were  taken  from  the 
building,  and  every  semblance  of  royal  authority 
disappeared.     Boston,  with  its  whole   neighborhood, 


18  ORATION. 

felt  then  as  joyous  and  as  confident  as  she  does 
to-day,  that  she  was  no  uncommon  part  of  the 
new  American  Union.  With  every  century  the 
interest  of  association  attached  to  that  building 
will  increase.  Friends  of  liberty  from  other  coun- 
tries will  demand  to  see  it.  Let  any  who  please 
tear  down  the  houses  where  they  were  born  and 
build   greater,  —  but   let  this    stand   forever. 

A  few  years  since  there  arose  a  controversy  among 
eminent  historic  writers  as  to  the  church  from  which 
the  signal  lanterns  were  displayed,  by  the  order  of 
Paul  Revere,  on  the  night  of  the  18th  of  April,  1775, 
to  warn  the  country  of  the  march  of  the  British  troops 
to  Lexington  and  Concord,  —  whether  it  was  the 
tower  of  the  existing  Christ  Church  in  Salem  street,  or 
that  of  the  Old  North  Meeting-house  on  North  square, 
long  since  demolished.  By  a  fair  preponderance  of 
testimony,  as  well  as  by  well-supported  tradition,  it 
has  been  settled  in  favor  of  the  former,  where  a  tablet 
with  a  felicitous  inscription  has  been  placed  by  the 
City  Council.  But  we  trust  the  day  will  never  come 
when  there  shall  be  any  doubt  or  question  as  to 
where  was  the  Old  South  meeting-house;  but  that 
it  will  be  in  its  place,  an  ever-present  memorial. 
Standing  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city's  great  thor- 
oughfare named  after  the  Father  of  his  Country,  on 
the  spot  where  "Winthrop  lived   and  Franklin  was 


JULY     4,     188  1.  19 

baptized,  with  its  tower  fortunately  projecting  into 
the  sidewalk  so  that,  as  we  approach  it  from  the 
south,  we  have  a  fine  monumental  appearance,  with 
steeple,  spire  and  dial,  the  cherished  familiar  object 
from  childhood  to  age,  it  is,  in  fact,  the  best-pre- 
served memorial  building  in  its  identity  which  Boston 
or  Massachusetts  can  show.  It  seems  strange  now  to 
be  told  that,  in  the  eloquent,  fiery  days  of  the  Revo- 
lution, whenever  there  was  an  overcrowded  meeting 
at  Faneuil  Hall,  it  would  be  adjourned  to  the  "  Old 
South,"  the  use  of  which  was  always  kindly  granted 
by  the  patriotic  society  to  whom  it  belonged*  But, 
at  that  tune,  Faneuil  Hall  was  but  half  of  its  present 
size,  it  having  since  been  made  eighty  instead  of 
forty  feet  wide.  Hence,  the  Old  South  became  in 
truth  the  people's  meeting-house  on  great  and 
solemn   occasions.    ■ 

Those  walls  and  the  ceiling  have  enclosed  always 
the  same  space ;  within  them  yet  linger  the  slumber- 
ing echoes  of  the  undying  speech  of  our  fathers. 
Preserved  by  Providence  from  the  awful  conflagra- 
tion of  1872,  and  rescued  by  a  fortunate  chain  of 
events  from  being  torn  down  by  human  hands  when 
the  venerable  society  established  their  new  house  of 
worship  in  the  newly-inhabited  part  of  the  town,  it 
will  be  cherished  by  posterity  with  the  grateful  re- 
membrance   of  the   patriotic   voluntary  Association, 


20  OEATI Q N  . 

sustained  chiefly  by  woman's  aid  and  efforts,  which 
now  labors  to  save  it  for  them.  Should  it  be  needed, 
the  City  Council  might  well  invest  a  portion  of  the 
large  rents,  expected  from  the  proposed  lease  of 
the  Old  State  House,  in  the  large  mortgage  which 
remains  to  be  lifted.  When  the  thirty  years  from 
1876  shall  expire,  —  during  which  it  was  thought 
necessary  to  impose  a  restriction  forbidding  the  use 
of  the  building  on  Sundays  or  for  religious  purposes, 
—  whoever  shall  first  perform  before  the  next  gen- 
eration the  religious  rites  in  this  consecrated  building 
might  begin  with  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Praise 
waiteth  for  Thee,  O  God,  in  Zion,  and  unto  Thee 
shall  the  vow  be  performed." 

His  Excellency  Governor  Long,  in  his  classic  ad- 
dress delivered  on  Memorial  Day,  our  new  legal  holi- 
day, enumerated  the  monuments  and  statues  which 
already  adorn  this  city  and  vicinity  in  commemo- 
ration of  great  events  and  great  men,  with  high  com- 
mendation of  their  lofty  purpose.  Since  then  the 
late  anniversary  of  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  which 
ought  also  to  be  a  legal  holiday,  was  signally  cele- 
brated by  the  inauguration  of  the  statue  of  Col. 
William  Pkescott,  whose  renown  has  been  con- 
summated in  this  long-delayed  testimonial  by  the 
transcendent  merit  of  the  sculptor  and  the  orator, 
who  both  joined  in  bringing  his  heroic  form  back  to 


JULY    4,     1881.  21 

Bunker  Hill.  The  scene  recalled  the  memorable  oc- 
casion, twenty-fonr  years  ago,  when  Everett  was 
with  us  to  present  on  the  same  immortal  field  the 
marble  image  of  the  thrice-buried  martyr  of  the  Revo- 
lution. The  Bunker  Hill  Monument,  at  whose  base 
these  statues  stand,  is  the  greatest  prize  of  Boston  in 
the  annexations  which  have  added  to  her  importance. 
As  we  approach  the  Charlestown  District,  on  enter- 
ing either  of  the  bridges  which  span  the  mouth  of 
the  Charles,  we  can  behold  the  whole  majestic  obe- 
lisk with  its  grand  proportions  tapering  to  the  sky. 
But  this  magnificent  view  is  given  over  very  valuable 
private  property,  and  may  at  any  time  be  intercepted. 
On  entering  Charlestown,  the  object,  which  pre- 
sents so  fine  an  appearance  from  afar,  becomes  more 
and  more  obscured  the  nearer  we  come  to  it.  Its 
natural  effect,  indeed,  is  lost,  and  so  a  great  part  of 
the  patriotic  design  of  the  former  generation  in  erect- 
ing it  is  almost  frustrated  by  its  being  covered  with  a 
cluster  of  surrounding  buildings  upon  the  circuit- 
ous streets.  It  should  be  the  immediate  aim  of  the 
city  to  open  up  a  direct  avenue  to  its  grandeur, 
so  that,  uncovered,  it  may  crown  the  peninsula  which 
was  baptized  in  the  fire  of  the  Revolution,  and  that 
"labor  may  look  up  to  it  and  be  proud  in  the  midst 
of  its  toil." 

The  City  of  Boston,  in  its  extended  territory,  its 


22  O  R  A  T  I  0  N  . 

increase  of  population  and  wealth,  its  enterprise  and 
culture,  may  be  said  to  be  typical  of  the  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  United  States.  The  annual  expen- 
ditures of  the  city,  for  which  treasury  warrants  are 
drawn  by  Your  Honor,  are  as  large  as  were  those  of 
the  nation  under  the  administration  of  Washington. 
The  postage  receipts  collected  by  our  excellent  post- 
master, Mr.  Tobey,  exceed  those  which  were  annually 
paid  to  Samuel  Osgood,  of  Massachusetts,  the  first 
Postmaster-General.  It  may  be  added,  also,  with 
equal  municipal  and  national  pride,  that  the  financial 
credit  of  each  to-day  stands  as  high  as  that  of  any 
nation  or  municipality  in  the  world.  In  its  govern- 
ment also,  Boston,  like  our  other  cities,  is  a  miniature 
republic.  In  fact,  in  City,  State,  and  Nation,  there 
is  precisely  the  same  uniform  system  of  administra- 
tion. This  combined  movement  may  be  likened  to 
the  three  hands  of  a  clock,  each  revolving  in  its  reg- 
ular round.  The  second-hand  has  no  occasion  to  say 
to  the  minute-hand,  nor  has  the  latter  to  say  to  the 
hour-hand,  "  Keep  within  your  own  limits  and  do  not 
crowd  upon  me ;  "  for  they  are  so  constituted  that  they 
move  each  in  its  own  appropriate  sphere,  but  keep- 
ing time  together,  and  together  marking  the  progress 
of  the  age. 

If,  however,  there  should  be  a  popular  apprehen- 
sion that  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature,  or  of  Con- 


JULY     4,     18  8.i:  23 

gress,  are  too  long,  and  if  a  called  special  session  of 
either  should  cause  some  anxiety,  the  reverse  would 
be  the  case  should  the  City  Council  suspend  their 
sessions  for  three  or  four  months.  The  municipal 
care  and  protection  come  so  near  to  our  own  homes 
and  daily  wants,  that  then1  constant  watch  is  desired ; 
while  the  Congress  and  the  Legislature  having  the 
power  to  change  the  general  laws,  affecting  all  trans- 
actions of  business,  keep  the  community  on  the 
stretch  of  anxiety  until  their  sessions  are  over.  It  is 
thought  that  the  omission  to  call  a  special  session  of 
Congress  at  this  time,  to  provide  for  the  payment  of 
bonds  falling  due  in  the  interim,  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment having  wisely  secured  a  voluntary  agreement 
for  their  extension,  at  the  reduced  rate  of  interest, 
gave  the  country  as  much  relief  as,  reckoned  in 
money,  would  equal  the  amount  of  interest  saved 
on  that  part  of  the  national  loan,  which  has  been 
extended  at  the  pleasure  of  the  government.  The 
special  session  of  the  Senate,  necessary  to  a  new 
administration,  seems  to  have  been  sufficient. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  republic,  the  old  thirteen 
States  which  joined  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence formed  new  State  Constitutions,  setting  aside 
their  Royal  Charters,  being  so  advised  by  the  Conti- 
nental Congress.  ]S"ine  States  adopted  theirs  in  1776, 
New   York   in    1777,    and   Massachusetts   in    1780. 


24  ORATION. 

That  of  the  latter  was,  in  some  respects,  of  a  superior 
order,  and  became  a  model  for  that  of  the  United 
States,  formed  seven  years  afterward. 

Its  well-defined  demarcation  of  the  three  coordi- 
nate branches  of  the  government,  the  executive, 
legislative  and  judicial;  the  tenure  of  judges  during 
good  behavior;  the  provisions  for  the  University  at 
Cambridge,  and  for  the  general  encouragement  of 
learning;  its'  Bill  of  Rights,  adhering  to  and  devel- 
oping the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence —  gave  to  Massachusetts  substantially  the  same 
form  of  government  she  now  has.  Franklin  was 
consulted  in  the  framework;  Hancock,  Bowdoin, 
Samuel  Adams,  and  many  other  Boston  men,  assisted 
in  putting  it  together;  for  then,  as  now,  her  leading 
men  became  also  prominent,  in  turn,  in  the  councils 
of  the  State  and  the  Nation. 

There  was  great  dissatisfaction  in  the  latter  days  of 
the  colonial  government,  because  the  King's  ministers 
proposed  to  fix  and  pay  the  salaries  of  the  Royal 
Governors  and  Judges,  in  order  that  they  might 
become  more  subservient  to  the  mandates  of  the 
Crown.  In  framing  the  State  Constitution,  there- 
fore, the  fathers  of  Massachusetts  intended  that  these 
important  officers  should  be  made  as  independent,  in 
their  position  and  circumstances,  as  the  lot  of  hu- 
manity would  permit,  —  so  that  there  might  always 


JULY     4,     188  1.  25 

be  not  only  good  laws,  but  an  impartial  interpretation 
and  a  faithful  execution  of  them,  "that  every  man 
may,  at  all  times,  find  his  security  in  them."  In  the 
dark  days  of  1780,  when  the  national  independence 
had  not  been  fully  achieved,  the  great  war  pending, 
the  people's  resources  being  limited  and  the  tunes 
straitened,  this  was  the  wonderful  and  wise  founda- 
tion laid  for  the  permanence*  and  prosperity  of  the 
State : — 

As  the  public  good  requires  that  the  governor  should  not  be 
under  the  undue  influence  of  any  of  the  members  of  the  general  court, 
by  a  dependence  on  them  for  his  support,  —  that  he  should,  in  all  cases, 
act  with  freedom  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  —  that  he  should  not  have 
his  attention  necessarily  diverted  from  that  object  to  his  private  con- 
cerns, —  and  that  he  should  maintain  the  dignity  of  the  Commonwealth 
in  the  character  of  its  chief  magistrate,  —  it  is  necessary  that  he  should 
have  an  honorable  stated  salary,  of  a  fixed  and  permanent  value,  amply 
sufficient  for  those  purposes,  and  established  by  standing  laws  :  and  it 
shall  be  among  the  first  acts  of  the  general  court,  after  the  commence- 
ment of  this  constitution,  to  establish  such  salary  by  law  accordingly- 
Permanent  and  honorable  salaries  shall  also  be  established  by  law 
for  the  justices  of  the  supreme  judicial  court. 

And  if  it  shall  be  found,  that  any  of  the  salaries  aforesaid,  so  estab- 
lished, are  insufficient,  they  shall,  from  time  to  time,  be  enlarged,  as 
the  general  court  shall  judge  proper. 

It  will  be  seen  that  it  was  designed  that  the  future 
governors  should  have,  as  a  matter  of  constitutional 
right,  an  honorable  support  from  the  public  treasury, 
for  themselves  and  their  families,  whether  they  had 


26  OEATION. 

ample  private  resources,  or  whether,  like  Samuel 
Adams,  they  were  poor.  In  either  case  they  were  to 
be  enabled  to  maintain,  in  their  living,  the  dignity  of 
the  Commonwealth.  It  was  not  intended  that  the 
Legislature,  with  the  assent  or  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  governor  for  the  time  being,  should  reduce  the 
salary  below  the  constitutional  standard;  but  it  is 
ever  bound  from  time  to  time  to  inquire  as  to  the 
salaries  paid  to  officers  in  other  administrative 
offices,  and  as  to  the  expenses  of  maintaining  a 
family  in  the  capital  in  a  manner  befitting  this  high 
office,  and  then  to  raise  the  governor's  salary  to  that 
point  without  regard  to  the  means  of  the  incumbent. 
The  ablest  man,  though  poor,  was  not  to  decline  to 
serve. 

A  look  at  the  statue  of  Governor  Winthrop,  in  his 
elegant  costume,  gives  some  idea  of  the  stress  and 
importance  placed  upon  official  dignity  when  he 
landed  here,  bringing  the  royal  charter.  Though 
fashions  have  since  changed,  the  new  demands  of 
our  day  call  for  increased  expenditure  in  honorable 
living  of  another  character.  * 

In  1859,  it  was  proposed  by  Governor  Banks 
that  the  Commonwealth  should  purchase  the  sightly 
residence  where  Governor  Hancock  lived,  which 
might  be  set  apart  for  the  executive  mansion;  but 
the  opportunity  passed,  and  can  never  be  recalled. 


JULY     4,     1881.'  27 

The  Supreme  Judicial  Court  was,  at  that  time,  the 
only  State  court,  and  therefore  it  was  named  in  the 
constitution;  it  continued  to  perform  all  the  judicial 
duties  above  those  of  the  county  magistrates  and 
justices'  courts  for  forty  years.  In  1820,  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  was  established,  upon  which  was 
devolved  concurrent  jurisdiction  over  the  most  part 
of  the  business  of  the  Supreme  Court.  This  con- 
tinued until  1859,  when  the  present  Superior  Court 
was  established.  In  this  view  it  would  seem  that 
these  latter  courts  were  within  the  meaning  of  this 
constitutional  provision,  as  they  were  successively 
created  to  discharge  duties  which  had  been  assigned 
to  the  Supreme  Court,  and  that  consequently  their 
salaries  should  be  enlarged  from  time  to  time  when 
circumstances  required,  but  never  reduced.  At  any 
rate  the  reduction  of  the  salaries  of  judges  appointed 
during  good  behavior  would  seem  to  be  a  breach  of 
an  implied  contract  on  behalf  of  the  State. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  executive  has  often  found 
it  difficult  to  supply  the  places  in  all  these  courts,  as 
they  became  vacant.  Many  would  .decline  the  honor, 
in  the  feeling  that  their  duty  to  their  families  forbade 
their  relinquishing  a  lucrative  profession  for  the 
bench,  the  emoluments  of  which  would  scarcely  afford 
a  present  livelihood.  Several  of  those  who  did  ac- 
cept the  position,  through  the  solicitation  of  friends, 


28  '        ORATION. 

felt  obliged,  after  a  time,  to  abandon  it,  from  the  in- 
adequate remuneration.  Of  the  whole  number  of 
judges  who  have  deceased,  not  half  died  in  office. 
Those  who  continued  on  the  bench  and  gave  their 
whole  life,  from  the  time  of  their  appointment,  to 
this  high  service,  did  it  at  great  personal  sacrifice. 
But  that  rate  of  compensation  which  does  not  secure 
the  desired  permanency  of  the  judiciary  in  office,  can- 
not be  said  to  be  adequate  or  honorable. 

Mr.  Webster,  while  engaged  in  an  important  cause 
before  Mr.  Justice  Allen,  in  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  —  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  Superior 
Court,  —  said,  in  reference  to  him,  "  I  have  the 
highest  respect  for  any  man  who  will  faithfully 
perform  the  duties  of  a  judge;  and  the  people  are 
hardly  aware  how  much  they  are  indebted  for  their 
security  and  prosperity  to  an  impartial  administra- 
tion of  the  laws."  All  observers  and  thinkers  will 
agree  in  this  opinion.  The-  judges  hold  up,  and 
the  longer  in  the  same  hands  the  surer,  the  scales 
of  justice  between  man  and  man,  and  between  the 
State  and  the  accused.  They  enunciate  the  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  wheels  of  business  and 
social  order  move;  they  are  the  recourse  of  con- 
flicting parties,  and  the  guide  of  the  active  world. 
In  their  quiet  and  regular  round  of  laborious  service 
they   attract   but  little   popular    attention   compared 


JULY     4,     1881.  29 

with  those  who  are  in  more  conspicuous  places. 
The  courts  of  justice  are  like  the  unnoticed  foun- 
tains and  hidden  springs  which  supply  the  streams 
which,  flowing  in  every  direction,  invigorate  the 
soil  and  cause  the  earth  to  put  forth  its  increase. 
During  the  last  hundred  years  no  stain  has  been 
cast  upon  the  judicial  ermine  of  our  State  courts; 
nor  scarcely  a  breath  of  suspicion,  or  a  suggestion 
of  bias  or  intentional  error.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  they  have  certainly  on  their  part  come  up  to 
the  constitutional  requirement  in  this  regard,  so  that 
the  subject  has  obtained  "right  and  justice  freely, 
and  without  being  obliged  to  purchase  it;  com- 
pletely, and  without  any  denial;  promptly,  and 
without  delay,  conformably  to  the  laws."  Let  the 
people  see  to  it  that  their  obligation  is  fully  per- 
formed on  the  part  of  the  State.  The  judicial 
branch,  both  in  the  State  and  the  Nation,  is  the 
weakest  part  in  the  government,  because  it  must 
rely,  under  the  Constitution,  on  the  Legislature 
for  its  organization  and  liberal  support;  but  it 
imparts  to  the  State  the  requisite  moral  strength 
and   security. 

The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Superior 
Court  have  furnished  judges  to  the  Supreme  Ju- 
dicial Court,  while  the  latter  has  given  Govern- 
ors   to   the    Commonwealth    and   cabinet  officers  to 


30  ORATI O N  . 

the  Nation,  and  its  decisions  are  referred  to  as  high 
authority  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States  and 
Great   Britain. 

Great  respect  is  ever  shown  by  the  people  in 
attendance  before  the  State  Courts,  and  before 
local  magistrates.  This  is  not  constrained,  but 
comes  as  a  voluntary  tribute  to  the  majesty  of 
the  law.  Instances  are  rare,  indeed,  when  pun- 
ishments   are    imposed   for   contempt    of  court. 

A  judge  of  one  of  the  Boston  courts,  being  in 
London,  was  one  day  invited  by  the  Lord  Mayor 
to  sit  with  him  in  his  court.  "  In  what  costume 
does  Your  Worship  sit  in  your  court? "  inquired 
the  Lord  Mayor,  who  was  fairly  disguised  in  his 
overhanging  wig  and  flowing  gown  and  other 
trappings,  so  that  the  person  could  not  have  rec- 
ognized him  afterwards  in  his  ordinary  attire. 
"  The  same  I  now  wear,"  was  the  reply.  "  And 
how  is  your  authority  respected? "  he  asked,  in 
surprise.  "Precisely  as  here  in  Your  Worship's 
court,"  was  the  answer.  The  Lord  Mayor  was 
astonished;  for,  by  the  customs  and  traditions  of 
his  country,  he  seemed  to  rely  upon  his  big  wig 
and  gown  for  his  authority,  rather  than  upon  his 
office.  The  people  before  him  probably  thought .  as 
he  did  about  it,  having  been  brought  up  to  honor 
the  showy  insignia  more  than  the  magistrate. 


JULY     4,     1881.  31 

Not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  throughout  our 
whole  country  also,  there  is  uncommon  respect 
paid  to  the  authority  of  law.  In  the  courts  of 
the  United  States,  and  of  the  several  States, 
though  variously  constituted,  justice  has  been  as 
well  administered  as  in  any  other  part  of  the 
globe.  The  decisions  of  these  tribunals  on  im- 
portant and  novel  issues  have  added  lustre  to  the 
great  science  of  jurisprudence.  It  is  this  univer- 
sal acquiescence  in  the  courts  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  and  legislative  branches  of  the  national 
and  State  governments,  as  well  as  on  the  part  of 
the  people,  making  these  tribunals  the  great  and 
final  arbiter  between  all  contending  j3arties,  that 
has  made  our  beloved  America  preeminently  the 
land  of  liberty.  For  in  social  communities  there 
can  be  no  certain  liberty  where  there  is  not  a  fair 
interpretation  and  administration  of  the  law. 

This  feeling  of  loyal  submission  originates  with 
us  in  the  family,  and  is  carried  on  in  the  school, 
in  the  church,  and  in  divers  philanthropic  organi- 
zations which  spring  up  as  circumstances  demand. 
As  the  seed  is  caught  up  in  the  air  and  deposited 
and  grown  in  other  fields  far  beyond,  so  the 
heaven-born  principles  of  law  and  order  are  dis- 
seminated from  region  to  region  until  the  whole 
land  is  overspread. 


32  ORATION. 

Iii  our  early  history  serious  apprehensions  were 
felt  about  the  acquisition  of  Florida,  of  Louisiana, 
and,  later,  of  Texas ;  but  the  result  proved  so  bene- 
ficial and  natural,  that  California  and  ]STew  Mexico 
were  afterwards  added  without  opposition,  and 
even  with  a  joyous  welcome,  and  our  law  and  its 
free  institutions  spread  over  them  all,  as  waters 
cover  the  sea. 

So  it  has  come  to  pass  that  this  natural  growth 
and  consolidation  proved  too  coherent  for  dis- 
integration. As  the  municipalities  make  up  the 
States,  so  the  States,  with  vast  territories  for  future 
States,  compose,  not  a  Federal  Union  in  the  sense 
of  a  temporary  copartnership  to  be  dissolved  at 
pleasure,  but  one  grand,  indissoluble  Nation.  This 
has  been  decided  by  that  awful  and  stupendous 
trial,  before  the  world  as  spectator,  that  last  resort 
of  kings  and  of  peoples,  —  alas !  that  it  should  ever 
have  been  found  necessary  —  the  trial  by  battle  -r- 
waged  upon  the  unfortunate  metaphysical  southern 
heresy,  that  we  were  one  people,  and  yet  somehow 
we  were  not  one  people.  But,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  the  result  could  not  have  been  different. 
God  and  nature  have  bound  and  knit  us  together. 
Our  national  government,  superinduced,  in  some 
form,  years  before  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
to    repel    a    common    danger,    working    ever   since 


JULY     4,1881.  33 

harmoniously  with  the  governments  of  States  and 
of  cities  and  towns,  all  guided  by  well-adapted  and 
constantly  developing  principles  of  municipal  and 
constitutional  law,  like  as  the  veins  and  arteries, 
the  muscles  and  sinews  compose  the  human  sys- 
tem, appears  at  last  one  herculean  body  politic, 
with  its  scars  of  a  war  in  its  members  cured,  and 
its  arms  extending  from  sea  to  sea,  willing  to  re- 
ceive all  loyal  accessions,  and  able  to  defend  itself 
against  all  aggressors. 

Montesquieu,  in  his  "De  L'Esprit  des  Lois," 
says,  "If  a  republic  is  small,  it  is  destroyed  by  a 
foreign  power;  if  it  is  large,  it  is  destroyed  by  in- 
ternal disorder."  This  'celebrated  work  first  ap- 
peared in  1748,  and  at  that  time  history  may  have 
well  borne  out  his  assertion.  But  since  then  the 
rise,  growth,  and  recent  self-preservation  of  our 
republic  have  disproved  it  utterly. 

Were  there  time  it  would  be  well  to  glance  at 
the  great  amelioration  of  the  law  during  the  cen- 
tury. The  common  law  of  England,  the  growth 
of  many  centuries,  still  stands  with  us,  except 
when  repealed  or  modified.  The  statutes  of  this 
Commonwealth,  now  undergoing  a  third  revision, 
form  a  body  of  laws  so  distinct,  clear,  and  com- 
prehensible, that  he  who  runs  may  read,  and  per- 
haps the  guilty  who  read  may  wish  to  run. 


34  0  RATION. 

There  remains  one  little  phrase,  however,  which 
smacks  of  the  barbarism  of  the  feudal  ages.  Per- 
haps there  are  no  other  half-dozen  words  in  the 
English  language  so  stern  and  cruel  as  those  which 
appear  in  our  writs  of  attachment  of  estates : 
"For  want  thereof  take  the  body."  Although  the 
provisions  of  our  law  for  imprisonment  for  debt 
have  been  much  ameliorated,  still  they  impose 
cumbrous  conditions  upon  the  honest,  unfortunate 
poor.  That  odious  phrase  should  be  expunged 
from  civil  proceedings,  leaving  to  the  criminal 
courts  to  punish  fraudulent  practices.  In  the  main, 
however,  our  laws,  in  their  wisdom,  humanity  and 
adaptability  to  the  complex  affairs  of  our  time, 
are  not  inferior  to  those  of  the  most  enlightened 
nations. 

Our  fathers  founded  the  incipient  republic  upon 
the  rock  of  the  Christian  religion.  They  brought 
with  them  the  Bible,  which  had  been  recently 
translated  by  a  commission  appointed  by  James 
I.,  and  had  not  long  been  in  common  use.  For 
many  years  in  Massachusetts  the  support  of  re- 
ligious worship  was  provided  for  at  the  town 
meeting;  and  by  its  constitution  every  one's 
estate  was  taxed  therefor,  the  citizen  having  the 
right  to  designate  the  religious  society  to  whose 
benefit   his  tax  should  accrue.     So    our    State    con- 


J  ULY     4 ,     18  8  1.  35 

stitution  stood  in  this  regard  until  forty-eight 
years  ago,  when,  in  November,  1833,  Article  XT. 
of  the  Amendments  was  substituted,  which,  rec- 
ognizing public  worship  and  religious  instruction 
as  promoting  "the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  a 
people  and  the  security  of  a  republican  govern- 
ment," absolved  the  citizen  from  his  legal  obli- 
gation to  contribute  thereto.  This  change  in  our 
fundamental  law  was  regarded  with  great  alarm. 
It  could  not  have  received  general  favor  from 
the  preceding  generation,  who  were  justly  shocked 
at  the  spread  of  infidelity  and  its  train  of  evils 
in  France  during  her  revolution.  But,  adopted 
when  it  was,  after  a  long  continuance  of  the 
people  in  the  conservative  course  of  religious  in- 
struction enforced,  by  law,  and  after  the  success- 
ful experiment  of  the  growing  republic  for  more 
than  half  a  century  in  the  harmonious  co-work- 
ing of  the  national,  state,  and  municipal  systems, 
its  consequences  have  not  been  detrimental.  The 
amount  voluntarily  paid  for  the  support  of  pub- 
lic worship  has  been  much  larger  than  any  tax 
that  could  have  been  levied;  while  money  has 
been  most  freely  contributed  for  the  preaching  of 
the  Gospel  in  the  newly  settled  parts  of  the 
country. 

An    ultra    tendency    has    lately    been    manifested 


36  ORATION.    • 

hi  the  opposite  direction.  Instead  of  the  State 
authorizing  a  tax  for  the  support  of  the  Church 
in  its  various  sects,  according  to  the  views  of 
the  citizens,  it  has  been  proposed  to  levy  a  tax 
upon  all  the  property  held  by  the  Church  for 
religious  uses  for  the  support  of  the  State.  This 
has  been  urged  by  two  very  different  classes, — 
one  frankly  declaring  that  they  do  not  believe  in 
religious  worship  and  ordinances,  and  that  they 
ought  not  indirectly,  even,  to  the  least  appreciable 
extent,  to  be  taxed  on  its  account;  and  the  other 
class,  belonging  to  those  denominations  whose 
houses  of  worship  and  other  property  do  not 
come  up  to  the  average  standard  in  cost,  and 
whose  proportionate  part  of  this  proposed  tax 
would  be  so  small  that  it  would  be  an  ad- 
vantage to  their  private  estates  if  it  were  levied. 
Such  a  tax  would  be  wrong  in  principle,  and 
would  conflict  with  the  spirit  of  the  constitution 
as  it  is.  All,  in  fact,  that  the  State  grants  an 
immunity  upon  is  the  land  on  which  the  church 
buildings  and  other  property  stand;  all  that  is 
built  or  placed  upon  it  comes,  or  is  to  come  when 
paid  for,  as  a  voluntary  offering  from  devoted  citi- 
zens. Tax  them  for  this,  and  one  high  resource 
for  art  .  and  aesthetic  culture  would  be  cut  off. 
Besides,  it  would  be  rendering  tribute  to  the  State 


JULY     4,     1881.  37 

for   what   is   not   the    State's,    but    is    dedicated   to 
God. 

The  great  event  of  the  time,  in  its  moral  aspects, 
is  the  appearance  of  the  new  version  of  the  New 
Testament,  under  the  auspices  of  various  denomina- 
tions in  England  and  America.  This  is  an  admission 
that  the  vernacular  text  of  the  old  version  is  not  in- 
fallible. It,  therefore,  should  supply  a  rule  of  con- 
duct as  to  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools 
throughout  our  country.  The  late  Bishop  Fitz- 
patrick,  whose  learning,  piety  and  zeal  for  repub- 
lican principles  we  all  knew,  in  a  published  letter  on 
this  head,  explained  the  views  of  those  of  his  belief 
as  to  the  alleged  inaccuracies  of  the  old  version. 
Other  sects  allege  other  inaccuracies,  which  they 
say  endanger  the  muniments  of  their  respective 
creeds.  When  we  bear  in  mind  that  Jesus  Christ, 
in  promulgating  his  gospel  on  earth,  gave  his  in- 
struction orally,  not.  having  been  known  to  write  or 
dictate  a  word ;  that  he  inculcated  the  spirit  of  the 
idea,  and  not  the  written  letter;  that  he  consolidated 
—  so  to  speak  reverently  —  the  Decalogue  and  the 
whole  moral  law  into  two  Commandments,  which 
any  child  can  remember,  —  the  supreme  love  of  God, 
and  the  love  of  one's  neighbor  as  one's  self,  —  telling 
afterwards,  in  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan, 
what  he  meant  by  neighbor,  —  it  would   seem  that. 


38  ORATION. 

under  the  concession  which  this  new  version  implies, 
by  common  consent  throughout  our  country,  the 
reading  of  all  disputed  original  texts,  and  all  contro- 
verted translations  of  passages  upon  which  denomi- 
nations divide,  should  be  omitted  in  the  school-room. 

It  is  the  paramount  interest  of  the  whole  church 
and  of  the  republic  that  there  should  be  a  co-educa- 
tion of  all  the  children  in  the  public  schools,  estab- 
lished on  the  most  liberal  foundations,  so  that  the 
rising  generations  may  be  saved  from  the  horrors  of 
scepticism,  and  that  the  miserable  fashion  of  unbelief 
shall  not  cast  its  blight  on  the  flower  and  promise  of 
the  land.  For  it  is  Christianity  which  has  ever  given 
a  tone  and  character  to  our  laws,  and  these  consti- 
tute the  essential  framework  and  being  of  the  re- 
public. 

Various  customs  our  fathers  brought  from  Mother 
England.  The  only  popular  elections  affecting  the 
British  government  are  for  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons;  the  seats  in  the  upper  House  of  Parlia- 
ment, the  House  of  Lords,  as  well  as  the  Crown 
itself,  falling  by  hereditary  descent,  according  to  her 
law  of  primogeniture.  As  Parliament  may  be  con- 
tinued for  seven  years,  these  popular  elections,  so  far 
as  the  suffrage  is  extended  to  the  people,  are  a  rare 
event  as  compared  with  us.  It  is  the  custom  there 
for  candidates  to   propose  themselves  to  the  voters. 


JULY.    4,1881.  39 

and  solicit  their  suffrages;  and  they  generally  pay 
the  large  election  expenses,  which  are  sometimes 
very  heavy,  amounting,  as  it  is  stated,  in  certain  in- 
stances, to  a  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There  being- 
no  compensation  to  a  member  of  Parliament  unless 
he  is  an  officer  in  the  ministry,  his  motive  or  reward 
is  fame,  great  influence,  and,  perhaps,  the  hope  of 
obtaining  a  peerage  as  a  reward  for  eminent  service 
or  useful  leadership.  For,  though  in  England  there 
is  boasted  liberty,  there  is  no  equality,  - —  it  is  subor- 
dination to  rank  which  constitutes  her  chief  glory. 

As  our  elections  are  frequent,  occurring  at  stated 
periods,  and  the  elective  offices  in  the  Nation  and 
State  are  numerous  and  various,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  English  system  cannot  be  here  continued  with- 
out much  more  hazard  to  our  institutions  than  is  ex- 
perienced in  England.  If,  by  consent  of  all  good 
men,  a  system  could  be  adopted  by  which  the  popular 
will  could  be  ascertained  in  the  most  economical 
manner,  the  greatest  peril  of  our  time  would  be 
averted.  For,  whether  the  money  employed  in  the 
conduct  of  elections  and  the  influencing  the  voters 
be  paid  out  of  the  public  treasury  or  from  private 
means,  it  is  a  drain  upon  the  resources  of  the  people ; 
and  if  the  expenditure  be  wrongful  or  extravagant  it 
is  equally  a  waste,  as  well  as  a  source  of  demorali- 
zation. 


4-0  0  R  A  T  I  O  N  . 

There  would  be  a  great  saving  in  one  large  item 
—  the  printing  of  the  ballots  —  if  that  were  by  law 
required  to  be  done  by  the  State  or  municipal  officers 
at  the  public  expense,  they  being  required  to  furnish 
the  ballots  called  for  by  the  committee  of  any  known 
party  organization.  All  abduction  or  destruction  of 
such  tickets  should  be  punished  by  suitable  penalties. 

Another  item  of  cost  of  our  elections  is  the 
rallying  or  getting  the  voters  out.  One  would 
suppose  that  citizens  generally  would  so  highly 
value  their  privilege  that  they  would  go  to  the 
so-called  meetings  of  their  own  accord,  and  would 
not  need  to  be  got  out  at  others'  expense.  They 
should  be,  like  jurors,  required  by  law  to  vote, 
as  town  officers  were  required  to  serve  unless 
excused. 

In  former  times  there  were  real  town-meetings 
where  there  was  a  discussion  and  transaction  of 
business  after  debate,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
voting  for  elective  officers.  But  now,  especially 
in  cities,  the  citizens  are  called  to  meet  at  their 
precincts,  on  no  other  business  except  simply  to 
deposit  their  ballots,  which  are  afterwards  required 
to  be  sealed  up  in  a  box  and  sent  with  the  re- 
turn  to   the   examining   board. 

It  would  save  much  trouble  to  the  voter,  if, 
when    served   with   the   notice    of    the    election,    he 


J  U  L  Y     4  ,     1  8  8  1  .  41 

had  also  sent  to  him,  in  proper  legalized  form, 
a  stamped  envelope,  in  which  he  might  send  his 
vote  by  mail,  with  his  signature  and  exact  home 
address,  to  the  Board  of  Registrars.  These  votes 
might  be  numbered  and  put  on  permanent  file, 
or  bound  in  volumes;  their  authenticity,  if  dis- 
puted, could  be  readily  verified  at  any  time,  and 
there  could  be  no  mistake  in  the  count.  In  France 
the  voter  signs  his  name  at  the  registration,  and 
he  signs  the  vote  he  gives.  Voting  in  this  manner 
would  be  a  domestic  and  a  more  deliberate  act, 
if  every  voter  endorsed  his  vote,  while  at  the 
same  time  his  independence  would  be  assured,  as 
no  one  would  outrage  public  sentiment  by  pun- 
ishing  an    independent   voter. 

In  the  English  universities,  which  have  the 
right  to  send  one  or  more  members  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  the  constituents  are  scattered  all 
over  the  country  and  the  world.  So  they  send 
by  mail  powers  of  attorney,  duly  verified,  author- 
izing some  one  at  the  polls  to  cast  the  vote 
therein  designated  for  them.  Of  course  they 
might  as  well  be  allowed  to  send  their  votes  direct 
to   the    officers  appointed   to   receive   them. 

The  graduates  of  Harvard  University  qualified 
to  vote  for  overseers  send  to  the  standing  com- 
mittee their  nominations  over  their  own  signature  by 


42  O  R  A  T  ION. 

letter,  —  a  superior  method  to  that  of  the  Caucus. 
It  would  be  an  improvement  if,  at  the  real  elec- 
tion, they  could  vote  in  this  way,  as  there  would 
always  be  a  fuller  expression  of  the  voice  of  the 
electors,  the  vote  by  mail  being  about  twice  >as 
large    as   the   legal   vote. 

We  claim  the  right  to  know  how  our  repre- 
sentatives vote  in  the  deliberative  assembly.  We 
have  an  equal  interest  to  know  for  whom  our 
fellow-citizens  vote,  as  it  is,  or  should  be,  the 
common  desire  of  us  all  to  elect  the  best  and 
fittest  men.  Open  voting,  or  the  backing  of  the 
vote,  would  give  a  manly  independence  to  the 
citizen  and  a   safeguard   to   the   public. 

The  archaeologist  of  the  twenty-first  century, 
in  studying  the  character  of  this  present  genera- 
tion by  its  statutes,  in  coming  upon  "An  Act  to 
aid  in  the  preservation  of  order  in  elections," 
passed  in  1881,  will  be  at  loss  to  know  the 
reason  for  it,  until  he  shall  look  back  two  years, 
when  he  will  conclude  that  he  has  found  the 
explanation,  —  that  the  statute  of  1881  required  the 
voting-places  to  be  kept  cleanly  and  orderly,  free 
from  smoking  and  drinking,  in  order  to  prepare 
for  the  advent  of  women  at  the  polls,  to  look 
after  the  control  of  our  public  schools.  The  ex- 
tension   of    female    suffrage    lies    in    the    logic    of 


JULY    i,     1881.  43 

events,  and  is  only  a  question  of  time.  There 
have  been  from  the  earliest  ages  female  sovereigns, 
who  have  well  maintained  the  honor  of  their 
government  and  promoted  the  prosperity  of  their 
people.  If  one  were  asked  to  select  the  three 
most  brilliant  reigns  of  England,  those  of  Queens 
Elizabeth,  Anne  and  Victoria  would  be  named, 
embracing  a  period  already  of  one  hundred  years. 
The  law,  keeping  pace  in  the  last  century  with 
the  progress  of  civilization,  has  ameliorated  the  civil 
condition  of  women.  The  married  can  now  hold 
and  manage  their  separate  property,  carry  on 
business  in  their  own  names,  hold  offices,  as  well 
as  single  women.  They  all  now  vote  in  churches 
and  business  corporations.  The  high  schools, 
colleges,  and  collegiate  courses,  the  professions, — 
in  part  as  a  beginning,  —  and  numerous  employ- 
ments for  which  men  compete,  are  opening  to 
them.  They  have  become  authors,  astronomers, 
educators,  and  trustees  of  prison,  charity,  and 
school  boards.  In  all  these  capacities  they  have 
elevated  the  character  and  improved  the  general 
condition  of  society.  In  all  countries  under  mo- 
narchical, and  even  autocratic  governments,  they 
have  a  certain  influence,  more  or  less  extensive, 
in  directing  public  sentiment.  In  republics, 
where    the    will    of   the    people    is    the    maker   of 


44  ORATION. 

law,  they  influentially  assist  in  moulding  public 
opinion.  As  a  logical  necessity,  they  will,  in  the 
natural  order  of  events,  be  permitted  to  join  in  the 
making  of  the  law.  The  standard  of  the  law 
and  of  public  office  will  be  made  higher  by  their 
participation,  as  the  queens  who  have  been  named 
gave  a  higher  tone  and  cast  to  the  manners  and 
modes  of  their  times.  Queen  Victoria  proved  none 
the  less  an  excellent  wife  and  mother,  nor  has 
she  failed  in  any  of  the  qualities  that  adorn  those 
domestic  relations,  nor  has  she  exerted  any  less 
powerful  influence  in  society,  for  having  so  long 
wielded  the  sceptre  with  such  queenly  grace  and 
judgment.  If,  indeed,  our  civil  war  had  broken 
out  in  the  reign  of  George  IV.  or  William  IV. 
the  probabilities  are  that  either  of  those  kings 
would  have  made  a  treaty  of  friendship  and  alliance 
with  the  Southern  Confederacy,  which  would  have 
protracted  its  horrors  and  postponed  the  day  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  republic.  But  the  Queen's  moral 
sentiments  forbade  her  giving  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  effort  to  found  a  new  government  on  the 
corner-stone   of  slavery. 

The  growth  of  our  republican  system  follows  the 
order  of  nature,  —  first  the  blade,  then  the  e,ar,  then 
the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  The  political  power  was 
given  to  the  men  gradually,  as  here  in  Massachusetts, 


J  U  L  Y     4  ,     1  8  8  1 .  45 

first  to  church-members,  then  to  freeholders,  then  to 
owners  of  certain  personal  estate,  and,  lastly,  to  poll- 
tax  payers  with  the  educational  qualification.  Here- 
after it  will  extend  to  women,  more  or  less  gradually, 
until  the  full  fruit  is  reached;  until  at  last  the  repub- 
lic, like  a  pyramid,  with  its  base  resting  upon  the 
united  voice  of  the  whole  people,  without  distinction 
of  sex,  can  never  be  overturned. 

A  theory  has  been  formed  as  a  reason  against 
female  suffrage  —  founding  government  on  physical 
force;  and  as  men  supply  all  the  force  in  defending* 
or  maintaining  the  country,  they  alone,  it  is  urged, 
should  vote.  In  other  words,  that  bullets  and  ballots 
should  go  together.  But  this  will  not  hold.  In  the 
first  place  it  would  strike  out  that  portion  of  the 
voting  class  who  are  non-combatants,  and  not  subject' 
to  a  draft.  Again,  no  war  could  be  sustained  that 
had  not  the  sympathy  and  moral  support  of  the 
women  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  that  did  not 
receive  their  material  aid  in  preparing  the  clothing, 
and  in  caring  for  the  sick  and  wounded.  But  the 
state  of  war  is  not  our  normal  condition,  and  while 
the  women  do  their  proper  share  in  war  by  their 
care  in  the  camp  and  hospital,  and  performing  men's 
work  at  home,  in  peace  they  match  the  men  in 
maintaining  the  social  order  and  well-being  of  the 
community.     It  is  not  true,  however,  that  the  govern- 


4:6  ■  O  RATION. 

ment  of  a  republic  is  founded  on  force  any  more 
than  the  public  school  is  founded  on  the  rod.  Such 
a  republic  would  be  a  house  divided  against  itself, 
and  could  not  stand.  Our  republic  is  founded  upon 
an  organic  law,  to  which  the  people  have  given  their 
consent  as  the  best  they  could  frame,  and  under 
which  they  make  such  needful  laws  as  they  think 
are  best  calculated  to  establish  liberty  and  equality. 

If  the  public  voting  precincts  be  maintained,  they 
will  be  more  orderly  by  the  presence  of  women.  But 
by  making  voting  a  domestic  act,  to  be  done  at  home, 
the  adults  of  the  family  consulting,  there  will  be  a 
more  deliberate,  more  general,  more  independent, 
more  authoritative  and  incorrupt  expression  of  the 
popular  will.  The  practical  tact  and  talent  of  our 
people  in  affairs  will  lead  them  to  adapt  their  laws  to 
the  wants  of  the  times,  and  so  get  rid  of  impending 
dangers. 

Make  voting  compulsory,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
as  convenient  as  possible;  forbid,  by  stringent  law, 
or  what  should  serve  as  well,  by  a  sound  public 
opinion,  all  candidates  from  contributing  money  to 
aid  their  own  election,  or  from  promising  preferment 
in  advance  to  their  followers;  let  all  the  legiti- 
mate election  expenses  be  paid  from  the  public 
treasury;  compensate  all  official  service  liberally,  as 
becometh  a  great  and   prosperous  people,  and  with 


JULY    4,     1881.  47 

the  usual  choice  of  good  officers,  our  triplex  re- 
publican system  will  go  on  continually  like  the  clock 
lubricated  with  the  finest  oil,  and,  like  that  faith- 
ful monitor,  will  prove  to  be  the  most  perfect  and 
useful  instrument  which  human  ingenuity  can  de- 
vise. 

When  Lafayette  —  whose  prominent  part  taken 
in  the  surrender  of  Yorktown  will  be  eloquently  told 
at  the  coming  centennial  anniversary  by  the  Nation's 
selected  orator  and  our  first  citizen  —  assisted  in  the 
laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  yonder  monument,  he 
gave  at  the  festival  of  the  day,  on  the  call  of  Presi- 
dent Webster,  this  sentiment :  "  Bunker  Hill,  and  the 
holy  resistance  to  oppression  which  has  already 
enfranchised  the  American  hemisphere.  The  next 
half  century's  jubilee  toast  shall  be,  To  Enfranchised 
Europe."  The  year  1875  did  see  .France  a  republic 
for  a  third  time,  and,  let  us  hope,  forever  established. 

But  five  years  after  he  gave  that  sentiment,  on  the 
expulsion  of  Charles  X.  from  the  throne,  a  deputa- 
tion of  citizens  waited  upon  him,  to  oifer  him,  not 
the  presidency  of  a  republic,  but  the  old,  giddy 
crown  with  which  the  French  were  still  dazed  as 
inseparable  from  their  idea  of  glory.  He  replied, 
quoting  the  answer  given  by  the  brave  but  illiterate 
Marshal  de  Saxe,  upon  an  offer  of  a  seat  in  the 
Academy:    "  Cela   mHrait   comme   une   bague   a    un 


48  ORATION. 

chat.''''  It  is  stated  by  M.  Jules  Cloquet,  in  his  sou- 
venirs of  Lafayette's  private  life,  that  after  this  event 
an  English  gentleman  came  over  by  post  from 
London  to  Paris  to  see  him,  and  as  soon  as  he  had 
paid  his  visit  he  departed.  Some  of  his  countrymen 
there  desired  him  to  tarry  with  them,  but  he  declined 
their  solicitations,  telling  them,  "  I  wished  to  see  a 
man  who  has  refused  a  crown.  I  have  seen  him  and 
return  satisfied." 

Lafayette  was  brought  up  in  the  school  and  the 
family  of  Washington,  for  whom  he  felt  the  highest 
veneration,  and  after  whom  he  named  his  only  son, 
who  accompanied  him  in  his  tour  of  triumph  in  the 
United  States.  When  asked  who  he  considered 
was  the  greatest  man  of  the  age,  he  replied,  Wash- 
ington. And  why?  "Because  he  was  the  most 
virtuous."  He  considered  goodness  the  essential 
part  of  greatness,  whether  applied  to  the  individual 
or  the  state.  He  was  conscious,  in  1830,  that 
France  was  not  prepared  for  a  republic.  She  had 
yet  to  be  surfeited  with  royal  and  imperial  splendor, 
and  put  in  peril  by  the  outrages  of  the  commune. 
But  he  did  what  he  could  to  impart  order  to  a 
constitutional  monarchy  checked  by  a  popular  rep- 
resentation. He  set  on  foot  many  schemes  for  the 
moral  instruction  and  the  useful  education  of  the 
people,  which  have  continued  in  successful  operation. 


J  U  LY     4,     1881.  49 

He  loved  our  country  as  his  own,  and  was  proud  of 
her  success.  He  expressed  a  wish  to  be  buried  in 
some  of  our  earth.  At  his  funeral,  therefore,  amid 
the  tears  of  France,  there  was  the  solemn  ceremony 
of  putting  together  the  precious  earth  brought  for 
the  purpose  from  our  classic  fields  and  his  own 
native  soil,  to  surround  and  guard  his  immortal  clay 
and  noble  heart.  It  would  seem  that  France  should 
henceforth  remain  a  republic  under  the  guidance  of 
her  brightest  star;  and  may  the  time  come  when 
Lafayette  shall  be  seen  amongst  us  in  marble  or  in 
bronze,  by  the  side  of  Webster,  or  of  Everett,  his  in- 
comparable eulogist,  to  inspire  our  people  still  more 
with  "  the   love  of  liberty  protected  by  law." 

Our  neighboring  sister,  the  republic  of  Mexico,  has 
showed  a  strong  desire  to  reciprocate  our  friendly 
offices  in  the  moral  support  by  which  she  was 
enabled  to  throw  off  the  imperial  yoke  which  ill- 
suited  her  institutions.  The  Monroe  doctrine,  at 
Secretary  Seward's  suggestion,  had  potent  power  to 
induce  Louis  Napoleon  to  recall  his  troops,  which 
had  no  business  in  Mexico.  She  has  now  a  stable 
republican  government,  and  she  looks  forward  to  a 
glorious  future.  Inviting  most  cordially  our  capital 
and  enterprise  in  establishing  the  modern  modes  of 
communication,  and  promoting  reciprocal  trade  and 
commerce,  she  will  take  the  commanding  position  to 


50  O  RATI  0  N  . 

which   her  resources  and  her  awakened  genius  will 
entitle  her. 

An    atrocious     crime    recently    committed,    which 
smote  the  head  of  a  great  and  most  friendly  nation, 
recalls  to  our  mind  a  like  enormity  in  the  murder  of 
President  Lincoln.     It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  of 
this  age,  that  the  rulers  of  two  mighty  nations,  who 
had  both  reached  the  climax  of  its  progress  in  the 
emancipation  of  the  slaves  and  serfs  in  their  respec- 
tive countries,  should  be  the  victims  of  foul  and  most 
ungrateful    assassination.       The   untimely   death    of 
Alexander   II.    touches   the    American    heart    with 
peculiar  sensibility,  because  there  has  been  a  long 
and   traditional   friendship   manifested    towards   the 
United   States   on  the  part  of  Russia.     During  the 
war  of  1812,  —  of  which  there  is  scarcely  a  survivor, 
Charles   Hudson,  of  Lexington,    an    old   and   time- 
honored  public  servant,  and  the  brave  Colonel  Aspin- 
wall,  having    deceased,  and  the   old  Association,   of 
which  they  were  the  noted  leaders,  being  dissolved 
in  the  course  of  nature,  —  Alexander   I.  offered  to 
England  his  friendly  services  as  arbiter.     When  our 
civil  war  broke  out,  and  France,  our  old  ally,  seemed 
inclined  to  side  against  us,  and  our  mother  England 
was  doubtful,  Prince  Gortchakoff,  by  command  of  his 
imperial  chief,  in  an  eloquent  dispatch  asserted  the 
importance  of  the  integrity  of  the  United  States  being 


JULY    4,     1881.  51 

preserved.  When  our  relations  with  England  be- 
came more  critical,  from  the  capture  of  the  Trent, 
and  of  Mason  and  Slidell,  and  a  third  war  seemed 
imminent,  the  late  czar  sent  his  fleet  to  winter  in  our 
harbors.  We  all  gratefully  remember  the  moral 
effect  of  that  timely  demonstration,  and  the  peculiar 
and  touching  reception  given  by  Boston  to  Admiral 
Lessofsky  and  his  brave  sailors.  Our  ties  were  still 
drawn  more  close  together  by  the  treaty  for  the  pur- 
chase of  Alaska,  our  last  great  possession,  carrying 
the  sovereignty  of  our  flag  to  the  confines  of  Asia. 
When  an  unsuccessful  attempt  had  been  before  made 
on  the  czar's  life,.  Congress  passed  a  solemn  resolution 
of  congratulation  upon  his  escape,  and  the  government 
sent  a  prominent  officer,  Captain  Fox,  Assistant  Secre- 
tary of  the  ]STavy,  in  a  national  ship,  to  bear  the  more 
than  friendly  message.  But  now  Alexander  II.  wears, 
with  Lincoln,  the  martyr's  crown !  If  his  awful  fate 
were  the  result  of  a  secret  permanent  organization,  the 
world  should  cry  out  against  it  all  the  more  bitterly, 
and  the  press  everywhere  should  denounce  it  as  a 
foul  conspiracy  against  the  civilization  of  the  age.  It 
is  no  way  to  reform  existing  wrongs  by  committing 
the  foulest  wrong.  If  this  be  its  natural  fruit,  Nihil- 
ism should  itself  be  annihilated.  Not  so  our  fathers 
achieved  their  immortal  glory.  If  they  had  so 
plotted,  we   would  not  have  known  this  happy  day. 


52  ORATION. 

Their  proceedings  were  open  and  nncler  duly  recog- 
nized forms  and  legal  rules.  The  records  of  our 
Continental  Congress,  and  we  may  say  the  same  of 
the  provincial  and  town  records,  were  authentic  and 
regular  as  those  of  the  British  Parliament  at  that 
time.  The  commission  of  Washington  as  com- 
mander-in-chief was  made  out  in  as  due  and  solemn 
a  form  as  was  that  of  General  Howe.  The  example 
of  the  United  States  to  the  world  during  its  birth 
and  illustrious  life  is  that  of  a  republic  acquiring  and 
maintaining  liberty  under  the  certain  safeguards  and 
sanctions  of  law-  Liberty,  to  be  permanent,  must 
ever  be  founded  on  that  law  which  emanates  from 
the  Supreme. 

It  might  not  be  a  vain  chimera  to  hope  that, 
under  Providence,  the  great  mission  of  the  United 
States  of  America  is  the  promotion  of  interna- 
tional peace.  Occupying  a  commanding  conti- 
nental position  in  the  New  World,  with  all  the 
experiences  and  none  of  the  hereditary  hindrances 
of  the  Old,  she  has  the  golden  opportunity  to 
aid  in  the  spread  of  that  gospel  of  peace  and 
good-will  which  Christ  appeared  on  earth  to  pro- 
claim. Mindful  of  the  injunction  of  Washington, 
"In  peace  prepare  for  war;"  admitting  to  the  full 
the  efficiency  of  military  discijDline  and  trained 
subordination,   which    can     all    be    utilized    in    the 


JULY    4,     1881.  53 

organization  and  uniforming  of  police  forces,  fire 
brigades,  the  crews  of  great  steamers  and  ships, 
the  employes  of  all  railroads,  and  even  of  schools 
and  colleges,*  with  the  measured  tread  and  martial 
music,  and  with  or  without  the  gun,  as  you  please, 
—  for  all  that,  the  destructive  element  of  flagrant 
war  may  be  eliminated  as  a  factor  in  settling 
grave  issues  between  nations.  International  har- 
mony may  be  maintained  by  high  courts  of  arbi- 
tration established  by  international  law.  In  horrid 
war  law  does  not  prevail.  Inter  arma  silent 
leges.  War  squanders  what  peace  has  laid  up  in 
store.  It  puts  a  heavy  mortgage  on  the  labors 
and  resources  of  posterity.  A  series  of  aggres- 
sive wars  would  leave  the  ship  of  the  republic 
to  drift  into    the    gulf  of  despotism. 

If,  thirty-one  years  ago,  the  people  north  and 
south,  east  and  west,  had  been  in  a  temper  to 
listen  dispassionately  to  that  Seventh  of  March 
Speech,  on  which  Mr.  Webster  said  he  would  be 
willing  to  stake  his  fame  with  posterity,  which 
he  dedicated  to  the  people  of  Massachusetts  with 
the   motto :  — 

.  .  Vera  pro  gratis.  .  .  .  Vellem  equiclem  vobis  placere :  sed 
multo  malo  vos  salvos  esse  qualicunque  erga  me  animo  futuri  estis,  — 

and   wherein,  with-  his    broad   forecast,   he    demon- 


54  ORATION. 

strated  the  utter  impossibility  of  a  peaceable  seces- 
sion, — "  Your  eyes,"  said  he,  "  will  never  behold 
that  miracle;"  and  wherein  also  he  laid  down  for 
basis  of  settlement  a  proposition  to  surrender  the 
whole  domain  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United 
States,  with  the  proceeds  of  what  had  been  already 
sold,  in  the  interest  of  the  South,  for  freeing  and 
transporting  their  slaves,  as  they  should  approve; 
if  madness  had  not  ruled  the  hour  so  soon  after 
the  great  statesman  passed  from  mortal  view, 
when  the  long  compromises  of  law  were  disre- 
garded, and  the  Southern  States  took  up  arms 
against  their  own  in  the  vain  hope  to  make  a  better 
country;  if  the  cool  reason  and  law-abiding  faith 
of  the  fathers  of  1776  could  have  resumed  its 
sway,  —  the  civil  war  might  not  have  been,  but 
gradual  emancipation  might  have  been  effected  in 
the  order  of  Providence,  with  less  loss  of  treas- 
ure, and  without  the  letting  of  a  drop  of  fraternal 
blood. 

Oh,  if  the  nations  of  the  Old  World  would  only 
follow  our  example,  and  would  all  agree  gradually 
to  disarm,  until  they  brought  their  respective 
armies  to  our  present  standard  of  twenty-five 
thousand  men  to  fifty  millions  of  people,  the  Earth 
herself,  that  now  supports  millions  of  men  in  the 
useless  habiliments    of    war,    would   rejoice    to    see 


JULY     4 ,     1881.  55 

by  far  the  greater  part  remanded  to  the  cultiva- 
tion of  her  soil,  or  to  the  mechanical  arts  of  in- 
dustry  and    skill ! 

General  Taylor,  afterwards  President,  was  known 
to  possess  the  strongest  convictions  upon  the  hor- 
rors of  war,  and  to  have  determined  to  resign  his 
commission  when  he  received  the  order  of  his 
government  to  march  his  army  into  Mexico,  which 
he  felt  he  was  in  honor  bound  to  obey.  Charles 
Sumner  dedicated  in  youth  his  life  to  the  pro- 
motion of  peace,  and  after  the  overthrow  of 
slavery  he  resumed  his  labors  in  peaceful  recon- 
struction. 

That  modest  Captain  of  our  country's  salvation, 
when  he  dictated  those  humane  terms  at  the  great 
surrender,  giving  them  "  their  horses  to  take  home 
to  plough,"  with  abundant  rations;  when,  in  ac- 
ceding to  the  presidency,  he  declared,  "Let  us 
have  peace ; "  and,  cutting  the  Gordian .  knot  of  the 
entangled  diplomacy,  by  yielding  the  claim  of 
inflamed  damages  against  Great  Britain,  on  which 
all  the  public  men  had  so  much  insisted,  on  account 
of  the  acknowledgment  of  the  Southern  belliger- 
ency, —  a  point  which,  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, he  would  claim  for  his  government,  and 
would  concede  to  Great  Britain,  —  he  thus  averted 
war   by    arbitration;    and    again,    when    in    his    re- 


56  0  R  A  T  I  0  N  . 

nowned  tour  around  the  world  —  a  greater  triumph 
than  any  Roman  conqueror  ever  had  with  all  his 
royal  captives  in  his  train  —  he  announced  that  he 
desired  to  see  no  brilliant  military  reviews  in  his 
honor,  reminding  him  of  war,  but  preferred  to 
learn  their  civil  institutions  and  the  nations'  pro- 
gress in  the  arts;  and  when  in  the  Oriental 
World  he  sought  to  bring  the  differing  govern- 
ments of  China  and  Japan  in  accord, — he  achieved 
splendid  victories  of  peace,  no  less  renowned  than 
his  unmatched  victories  in  war. 

There  is  honor  always  for  the  brave  soldier  who 
dies  for  his  country.  But  those  who  spend  their 
days  and  nights  in  developing  the  arts  of  peace, 
and  showing  the  world  how  to  profit  by  them,  are 
entitled  to  equal  gratitude.  The  time  will  come 
when  the  humble  names  of  William  Ladd  the 
founder,  and  of  George  C.  Beckwith  the  benefac- 
tor, of  the  American  Peace  Society,  which  has 
already  done  so  much  recently,  under  the  lead  of 
the  late  James  B.  Miles,  in  establishing  peace  con- 
ventions and  international  code  committees  holding 
their  annual  meetings  in  different  cities  in  the  Old 
World,  will  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance.  There 
have  been  many  glorious  examples  of  the  beneficence 
of  peace,  whose  names  we  can  readily  recall:  John 
Lowell,   Junior,  who,  dying   at   the    age    of  thirty- 


JULY    4,     1881.  57 

seven,  liberally  endowed  the  Lowell  Institute,  —  the 
best  system  of  diffusing  knowledge  that  had  been 
conceived ;  Edward  Everett,  our  greater  than  Tully, 
whose  whole  unspotted  life  was  one  continuous  out- 
flow of  eloquence  in  honor  of  patriotism  and  learn- 
ing; George  Peabody,  whose  truly  original  benefac- 
tions in  his  lifetime,  conspicuous  in  London,  and 
scattered  all  over  his  native  land,  have,  as  any  single 
one  of  them  would  have,  made  his  name  immortal; 
Horace  Mann  and  Barnas  Sears,  the  inspiring  lead- 
ers in  Popular  Education;  Amos  Lawrence,  who 
for  many  years  stopped  the  accumulation  of  his 
earthly  possessions,  and,  laying  up  treasures  in 
heaven,  went  about  doing  good;  Lemuel  Shaw, 
the  peer  of  any  lord  chancellor  England  ever  had, 
who  was  the  very  embodiment  of  law,  in  its  learn- 
ing and  application  to  the  smallest  concerns  and  to 
the  widest  principles;  ISTathan  Hale,  who  was  the 
pattern  of  an  editor,  and  taught  the  press  how 
to  impart  the  most  varied  information  and  most 
profound  views  without  stirring  strife;  Thomas  H. 
Perkins,  who  gave  sight  to  the  blind;  Samuel  G. 
Howe,  the  early  friend  of  Greece,  and  the  educator 
of  such  helpless  unfortunates  as  Laura  Bridgman; 
Louis  Agassiz,  who,  declining  the  imperial  invita- 
tion, and  having,  as  he  said,  no  time  to  make 
money,  watched  patiently  the  process  of  life  in  the 

8 


58  ORATION. 

animal  kingdom,  and  taught  a  generation  of  teach- 
ers how  to  observe  and  instruct;  Josiah  Quincy  and 
Theodore  Lyman,  two  of  Boston's  noblest  among 
her  hue  of  noble  mayors ;  the  three  Appletons, 
Nathan,  Samuel  and  William,  great  manufacturers, 
but  greater  benefactors;  Benjamin  Peirce,  who 
idealized  the  highest  attainable  knowledge,  and 
became  familiar  with  the  heavens  before  he  was 
translated  thither,  —  these  who  have  all  lived 
amongst  us,  and  many,  many  other  kindred  spirits, 
who  with  them  now  star  the  skies,  were  our  Ameri- 
can peace-makers,  and  will  be  called  the  blessed 
sons  of  God. 

Mr.  Mayor,  there  is  one  kind  of  artistic  com- 
memoration of  which  Italy  has  both  ancient  and 
modern  examples,  that  has  not  been  adopted  in 
our  country  in  a  distinct,  permanent  structure,  but 
often  is  seen  in  a  temporary  form  on  a  holiday  like 
this.  Paris  on  her  finest  avenue  shows  UArc 
de  Triomphe.  As  we  would  have  Boston  in  truth 
a  monumental  city,  let  the  suggestion  heretofore 
made  be  carried  out,  and  before  the  series  of 
centennial  anniversaries  of  events  connected  with 
our  early  national  history  shall  terminate,  let  us 
erect  on  our  broad  avenue  an  Arch  oe  Peace, 
which,  seen  across  the  sky  by  light  of  day, 
or  of  the  moon  and  stars,  shall  stand  as  an  ever- 


J  U  L  Y     4  ,     1  8  8  1 .  59 

lasting  pledge  of  The  Union,  and  of  peace  and 
friendship  with  all  the  world,  like  that  bow  of 
promise,  with  which,  when  the  storm  subsides  and 
the  sun  again  appears  through  the  clearing 
showers,  our  heavenly  Father  spans  the  heavens 
in  gorgeous  beauty  in  token  of  his  ever-abiding 
love. 

The  preamble  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Union 
should  be  ever  kept  in  view  as  our  Multum  in 
Parvo,  our  greater  than  the  Magna  Charta  of 
England:  — 

We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect 
union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  provide  for  the 
common  defence,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  bless- 
ings of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish 
this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of  America. 

To  establish  justice  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  to  lay  the  corner- 
stone of  their  republic.  President  Jefferson  said, 
in  his  first  inaugural  address,  delivered  when  party 
spirit  ran  higher  and  exhibited  more  rancor  and 
political  strife  than  it  has  ever  since,  so  that 
Federalists  and  Republicans  thought  it  necessary 
to  have  separate  celebrations  of  this  anniversary, 
"I  believe  this  is  the  strongest  government  on 
earth."  So  it  has  proved;  for  it  is  that  of  Liberty 
and   Equality,    founded   on   Law. 


60  ORATION. 

It  is  the  duty  and  the  problem  of  a  life  in 
the  republic  to  keep  up  to  the  high  requirements 
of  American  citizenship.  Are  there  any  of  our  coun- 
trymen abroad  living  hi  idle  extravagance,  the 
by-word  of  American  prodigality,  abusing  their 
country  and  its  government?  Let  them  take 
shame  to  themselves  in  season,  lest  in  a  few  fleet- 
ing years  they  reap,  for  harvest,  the  swinish  husks 
of  their  neglected  field.  Their  country  can  spare 
them  better  than  they  can  afford  to  stifle  the 
noble  aspirations  which  should  attach  them  to 
their   native   land. 

It  is  said  we  have  no  loyalty.  It  is  hoped  we 
may  never  be  infatuated  with  pageantry  and  pomp. 
But  we  have  shown  ourselves  loyal  to  great  ideas 
and  noble  principles,  and  the  women  or  the  men, 
who  live  as  best  exponents  of  these,  will  never  be 
without  honor,  even  in  their  own  country.  The 
real  spring  of  loyalty  is  the  National  heart,  and 
the  ivorld  hears  ours  beat  to-day,  in  throbbing 
anguish   and  filial   love. 

The  true  test  of  a  nation,  and  of  an  individual, 
is  how  to  bear  defeat.  The  republic  has  had 
its  griefs  as  well  as  its  glories.  The  monuments 
around  us  attest  how  often  the  nation  has  been 
called  to  mourn.     One  of  our  poetesses  has  said:  — 

The  seed  will  spring  up  which  is  watered  by  tears. 


JULY     4,     188  1.      •  61 

The  tears  which  were  shed  over  the  graves  of 
"Washington,  and  of  Lincoln,  and  of  many  illustri- 
ous statesmen  and  patriots  in  each  generation;  over 
the  graves  of  those  who  died  in  defence  of  their 
country,  —  yes,  even  of  those  who,  under  a  false 
education,  were  brought  up  to  love  their  section 
better  and  fought  against  their  country,  but  whom 
she  has  quite  forgiven,  in  the  joy  of  reunion, — 
these  flowing  together  in  sympathetic  sorrow 
have  drenched  the  American  soil,  and  nurtured 
the  Tree  of  Liberty,  so  that  its  roots  and  tendrils 
seek  the  earth's  centre,  and  its  massive  growth 
rises  and  spreads  out  to  the  clouds,  giving  shelter 
to  the  whole  republic,  amid  the  song  of  buds 
that  lodge  and  sport  in  its  ever  green  branches. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Members  of  the  City 
Council,  fellow-citizens  all,  —  as  we  shall  break  up 
this  patriotic  assembly,  and  passing  in  the  bright  sun- 
light shall  behold  our  own  love  and  pride  of  country 
mirrored  in  the  faces  that  fill  our  streets  and  beautiful 
squares,  tinged  with  the  shadow  of  the  overhanging 
cloud,  let  us  bear  home  this  lesson  of  the  hour.  In 
grateful  return  for  our  priceless  and  equal  heritage, 
the  highest  service  we  can  render  is  a  good  and  use- 
ful life.  However  humble  our  lot  and  station,  we 
may  adorn  it  with  that  fidelity  in  little  things,  which 
by  Divine  law  leads  to  rulership  over  many.    As  we 


62.  ORATION. 

turn  the  crank  of  daily  toil,  or  of  professional  or 
official  labor,  we  will  keep  the  candle  of  the  spirit 
lighted,  to  brighten  the  inner,  higher  life.  We  will 
search  our  First  Centennial  Volume,  and  will  strive 
to  imitate  the  many  great  examples  it  contains,  and 
we  will  not  withhold  the  admiration  due  to  the 
patriotic  labors  of  the  living,  nor  will  we  indulge 
in  the  dangerous  spirit  of  detraction.  Let  us  inspire 
those  around  us,  with  all  the  magnetic  power  that 
comes  from  earnestness,  with  an  abiding  Faith  in 
God,  a  sure  and  steadfast  Hope  for  our  Country, 
and  with  Love  for  the  Universal  Neighborhood. 
And  may  those  of  our  blood  and  kin,  mingling  with 
congenial  elements,  and  forming  ever  a  homogeneous 
race,  celebrate  the  return  of  Independence  Day  from 
generation  to  generation,  till  Time  shall  be  no  more. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE 


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